So how does a 30-pound overweight couch potato go from not being able to run or swim, and barely riding a bike, to finishing an Ironman in 12 months? That’s a great question, but after reflecting on the journey, the steps were, in fact, quite simple when you broke them down.
August 2006, the Greenfield sprint triathlon seemed like a good idea to me, so if I barely trained, it wasn’t too far away, I sure could do it. Around 20 strokes into the start of the swim, I was in big trouble, breathing, which is a bit critical, was becoming a major problem. So I had no choice but to stop and wait to catch my breath. A few seconds passed as I watched one competitor after another go by, it seemed like an eternity to me. Then I realized we were in a river, I could put my feet on the ground, which I quickly did and started walking, once I got my breath back I started swimming again, very slowly and not for long. Walking seemed like a better option, as I looked around, I was the only one walking in this race while he or she was in the water. Not good.
Finally my pain and suffering was over and I made it from the swim part to the bike, which was really fun and accomplished without any drama. In the running part and although not much of a runner at this point, he finished the 3.2 miles and actually passed some people along the way forgetting the torture of swimming and gaining some confidence.
Crossing the finish line something happened that I can’t explain, as soon as it happened I told my wife, I’m going to do an ironman. Sure enough, in 21 days I joined a local triathlon club, met some people, and signed up for the Wisconsin Ironman, which was the following October.
What had he done? An ironman, I’ve never done a half, an Olympic, and there was the other problem, the 2.4-mile swim I had to complete. Shit, how was he going to do that when he couldn’t swim in the river that was 500 yards away?
Well, I had a year to prepare, but at the time, on reflection, it seemed like 5 years would have been more appropriate, so how did this fat potato pull this off? For the rest of this story, including amazing triathlon training programs and some FREE tips and techniques, visit my blog below.